Pretty in Pink (1986)
Trivia
John Hughes was unhappy with the ending. He wanted Andie to get together with Duckie. But the film's ending of Andie getting together with Blane was forced upon him by the studio. In retaliation, Hughes virtually made the same film all over again the following year with Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), a film about a similar love triangle. Hughes wanted Molly Ringwald to star in it as well, but she refused. Reportedly, Hughes took it personally, so they never worked together again, though other reports state their working relationship ended after Ringwald kept asking Hughes to do script rewrites on another film that ended up being dropped, but he refused to do it because he hates doing rewrites.
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Spoilers (6)
Filmed at the same Los Angeles high school where Grease (1978) was made.
The genesis of this project emerged when Molly Ringwald asked John Hughes to write a movie based on The Psychedelic Furs song "Pretty in Pink", which was her favorite song at the time.
The filmmakers wanted Blane, to be "a hunky, square-jawed jock," but Molly Ringwald wasn't attracted to that sort of guy. Ringwald had some say in the casting, and after Andrew McCarthy auditioned, she told John Hughes and Howard Deutch her thoughts on him. "That's the kind of guy I would fall in love with." They thought he was a "twerpy guy", and weren't interested, but Ringwald pushed for his casting.
James Spader was offered the role of Blane, but he chose to take the role of Steff instead. He finds it more fun to play the villain.
This is Molly Ringwald's favorite among her own films. Fact check: Actually she said they "were all like {her} babies (the movies); it would be impossible to choose one over the other. If I had to choose one as the best it would be Breakfast Club because the script was the strongest". She has said at other points that she "enjoyed Pretty in Pink the most" because it was fun acting out a prom experience (which she never got in high school).
When the ending was re-shot, all of the principal cast members had to be called back. Andrew McCarthy had already lost a substantial amount of weight and shaved his head for a new role in a New York City play called "The Boys of Winter". Although he wore an auburn wig, he's noticeably more gaunt in the re-shot scenes.
The movie is dedicated to Alexa Kenin and Bruce Weintraub. Kenin, who played Jena, died in New York City just before the movie was released. Set decorator and production designer Weintraub (who had been Oscar-nominated for The Natural (1984)) died of AIDS at thirty-three. This was the last movie on which he worked before his death.
When Duckie gets thrown into the girl's bathroom, he says regarding the tampon machine, "We don't have a candy machine in the boys' room". This was ad-libbed by Jon Cryer.
According to Jon Cryer, he did so many takes of Duckie's dance scene, that he tore through his shoes, because both pairs of those shoes that were bought from a vintage store were actually too small.
The Rave-Ups are the band playing in the club scene. Molly Ringwald was apparently a fan of their music, and her sister had a child with one of the band members. Also, in Sixteen Candles (1984), "The Rave-Ups" is scrawled on the notebook Sam (Molly Ringwald) is carrying while walking down a corridor after study hall.
Simon is played by Dweezil Zappa, and there is a sign inside the Trax music store that says "Dweezil" is the Pick of the Week. He was also Molly Ringwald's boyfriend at the time.
Duckie's line, "His name is Blane? That's a major appliance, that's not a name," was ad-libbed by Jon Cryer.
In spite of their chemistry on-screen, Jon Cryer (Duckie) has stated that both of his co-stars Molly Ringwald (Andie) and Andrew McCarthy (Blane) found him "irritating" from day one. Cryer, who describes himself as a "very outgoing person" believes his attitude was the reason he never got along with the very reserved Ringwald and McCarthy.
When James Spader auditioned for Howard Deutch and John Hughes, he completely immersed himself in the jerky character of Steff. He smoked a cigarette in the room, and crushed the cig on his way out. Hughes and Deutch almost didn't cast him until they realized just how much he embodied the role. After Spader got the part, Jon Cryer complimented Spader's prior works. "I figure I got a lock on this teenage a**hole thing," Spader told Cryer.
What's now known as "The Duckie Dance" was part of Jon Cryer's audition process.
Molly Ringwald hated the pink prom dress she had to wear.
Duckie's dance was originally set to "State of Shock" by Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson. When the filmmakers couldn't get the rights to the song, it was changed to "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding. Jon Cryer suggested both songs.
Anthony Michael Hall turned down the role of Duckie, because he didn't want to be typecast. He also felt that the film was rehashing Sixteen Candles (1984).
Richard Butler, the lead singer for the Psychedelic Furs, said in an interview recently that "John Hughes misunderstood the meaning of my song (Pretty in Pink).". He said "pretty in pink" was supposed to be an ironic phrase meant to describe a tragic girl reduced to nothingness; reduced to her "pink nakedness" as it were; not wearing a pink dress.
Kristy Swanson's film debut. She was recommended by John Hughes for the non-speaking role of Duckette, who only appears in the re-shot ending. Hughes had liked her when she played a small role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), which was released later in 1986.
Anthony Michael Hall was originally approached by Hughes to play Duckie, but he declined, citing "a redundancy issue. Another movie with two guys and a girl." Hall is referring to Sixteen Candles (1984), another John Hughes movie he starred in also with a love triangle involving a cool rich guy, an insecure ingenue and a nerdy outsider as the center of its story.
During a 2010 interview, Molly Ringwald was asked if her character Andie was just a little bit attracted to Steff, played by James Spader. Ringwald joked that Andie wasn't, but she sure was.
"If You Leave" was not the original song Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark had composed for this movie. Their song "Goddess of Love" was the original composition, but it did not fit when the ending was changed.
There are two bands performing in the club that Andie frequents. One is The Rave-Ups, performing "Rave Up/Shut Up," and the other band is The Talkback, which performs the song "Rudy."
The book Andie hands to Blane the second time he comes into Trax is "In His Own Write" by John Lennon.
Annie Potts' character answers the phone at the record store, "Trax, what do you want?" Her character in Ghostbusters (1984) answers the phone at headquarters, "Ghostbusters, what do you want?"
Pretty in Pink star Molly Ringwald tells Out magazine that Duckie, the flamboyant best friend to her character Andie in John Hughes' 1986 high school classic about class and social strata in high school, was secretly gay. Though an alternate ending of the classic "Brat Pack" comedy in which Andie ended up with Duckie (played by Jon Cryer) rather than Blane (Andrew McCarthy) was filmed, test audiences responded to it negatively. "Duckie doesn't know he's gay," Ringwald tells the publication. "I think he loves Andie in the way that [my gay best friend] always loved me. That ending fell so flat - it bombed at all the screenings. I didn't realize it then - I just knew that my character shouldn't end up with him, because we didn't have that sort of chemistry. If John was here now, and I could talk to him, I think that he would completely acknowledge that." Ringwald also believes that "Pretty In Pink" screenwriter John Hughes, who died in 2009, "wrote a lot of gay characters" into his other movies like "Some Kind of Wonderful" and "The Breakfast Club." Still, she specifies, "It was something that we never talked about" before continuing that said characters "easily could have been gay" rather than being out and proud in the context of the films.
Tracey Ullman was considered for the role of Iona, but her American accent wasn't quite there at the time.
Andie (Molly Ringwald) refers to Blane (Andrew McCarthy) as a "richie". In The Breakfast Club (1985), Bender (Judd Nelson) refers to Claire (Molly Ringwald) as the same thing.
Released ten days after Molly Ringwald's 18th birthday in the U.S.
Charlie Sheen auditioned for the role of Blane. Sheen and Jon Cryer would later star as brothers in Two and a Half Men (2003).
Tatum O'Neal, Lori Loughlin, Diane Lane, Sarah Jessica Parker, Brooke Shields and Jennifer Beals were each considered for the role of Andie.
Andie's prom dress was created from two dresses. Costume designer Marilyn Vance bought the dresses from two locations in Los Angeles, cut them apart, then reassembled them into one pink dress.
Anjelica Huston was considered for the role of Iona.
Jodie Foster turned down the role of Andie.
Though most critics liked this movie; it has a 79% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes; Gene Siskel slammed this movie, giving it only * 1/2 stars. In the review he calls the movie's plot cliched and unbelievable: "What we have in this film's tired script by John Hughes is yet another story of a gutsy girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is ignored, then pursued, then abused and finally courted by a member of her high school's rich set, a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant by the name of Blane McDonough (so, maybe, he's a White Anglo-Saxon Catholic?)."
Justine Bateman reportedly turned down the role of Andie.
In Trax, the soundtrack to Ladyhawke (1985) is seen. The movie was produced by this movie's producer, Lauren Shuler Donner.
Jennifer Beals was suggested for the role of Andie.
Of all of Hughes' movies up to this point this was the least raunchy; and had the least party scenes. It is definitely a break from the teen sex comedy genre that Sixteen Candles was a part of wholeheartedly, and that even Breakfast Club adhered to in terms of raunchy dialogue and situations. Pretty Pink is really a legitimate drama, ala West Side Story or American Graffiti. And none of Hughes' movies would have that teen party movie/teen sex movie vibe that all his movies had in the early 80s again.
Andie refers to Blane as a "richie". John Bender (Judd Nelson) refers to Claire (Molly Ringwald) as the same thing in The Breakfast Club.
Included among the American Film Institute's 2002 list of 400 movies nominated for the top 100 top 100 America's Greatest Love Stories movies.
Included among the American Film Institute's 2004 list of 400 movies nominated for the top 100 America's Greatest Music in the Movies for the song "If You Leave."
Jon Cryer and James Spader appeared in this movie. Years later they would both appear on The Practice.
Alexa Kenin and Molly Ringwald were both on Facts of Life before starring in this movie. Molly starred in season 1 of Facts Of Life as Molly Parker; she one of the regular cast members that season; and then Molly would of course play Andie in this movie; Alexa played Jessie, Jo's best friend in "New York New York", Season 3 episode 19 of Facts of Life; then she would go on to play Jena Hoeman, Andie's buddy in this movie. Andrew Dice Clay would make an appearance on Different Strokes before starring in this movie as the "Dice-Man"; and Different Strokes was the forerunner and spinoff show for Facts of Life; Molly appeared on both programs.
Iona has a picture of Sid Vicious in her house. It is noticeable when Andie walks out of Iona's house after they're done talking and Iona just finished dancing in her prom dress.
Jerry Levine was considered for the role of Blane.
Andrew McCarthy and James Spader starred in Mannequin (1987). Kristy Swanson, who appeared at the end of this movie as Duckette, starred in Mannequin: On the Move (1991).
While Duckie is doing his dance inside of Trax, a box from K-Tel can be seen under a record display.
Spoilers
Robert Downey, Jr. was almost cast as Duckie, when the ending had Andie getting together with Duckie. Per Molly Ringwald, this ending may have stuck if Downey won the role, because he didn't give her the "brother vibe" Jon Cryer did.
The original ending had Duckie and Andie ending up together. However, the test audience wanted to see Blane and Andie reunited as a couple. Additionally, Molly Ringwald was sick during the filming of the final scene, and John Hughes wasn't satisfied with the editing. He was also concerned that audiences would take the original ending as a message that poor people and rich people don't belong together.
A novel for the film was adapted and released in the same year of the film's release. H.B. Gilmour was the author. The book was written before the last scene was changed, so it has the original ending, in which Andie picks Duckie over Blane.
In 2010, for the 20th anniversary of Entertainment Weekly Magazine, EW reunited Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, and Annie Potts for a photo shoot and interview. The three discussed what they thought their characters' lives were like after the movie ends. Ringwald said that she thought Andie and Blane would have broken up shortly after the end of the film, but Andie and Duckie would have remained lifelong friends, and also that Duckie would have long since come out as gay.
Molly Ringwald had the stomach flu and almost passed out during the original ending, where Andie dances with Duckie.
When Andie and Duckie are in the car driving home, Duckie is changing radio stations. The song with the saxophone that he changes before he says "I hate this song", is the same song ("If You Leave" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) that plays at the end of the film, when Andie chooses Blane over Duckie at the prom. This could be seen as foreshadowing what would happen at the prom.
